For all the drivers competing in the Macau Grand Prix on Sunday, success is about much more than just a trophy.
At stake also is a place in the history books in following in the footsteps of winners including Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, and going one better than runners-up such as Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.
Most important of all though is that a star performance here can offer a potentially career-changing recognition from Formula 1's decision-makers that no other single event offers.
It is why when Aston Martin Formula 1 academy driver Mari Boya approached the team about getting permission to return to Macau this season after his Formula 3 campaign, there was not one second of hesitation.
"When we asked them if it was possible to come they said, 'Yes' - and that was their first response," he said. "They were really clear that this is the race.
"If you look only at one race, this is the most important of the whole year. And in the paddock, and especially between drivers, the value of this race is unbelievable."
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While Macau may not grab the kind of international audience that an F1 title showdown has, where it makes up for things is the recognition and respect that winners get from drivers and teams. It's an aura farm.
A host of F1's biggest stars have all tried to win Macau, but many have stumbled (for multiple reasons) and not been able to pull off a victory.
Despite showing incredible speed, Max Verstappen's victory hopes in 2014 were derailed by a crash in the qualification race. A decade before, Lewis Hamilton had won the qualifying race, but crashed out early on in the main event as he battled with Nico Rosberg. (Who'd have thought it?)
Leclerc had a better time in 2015, as he finished second to Felix Rosenqvist after losing out at a restart. And it was still a weekend that he said helped him and his Van Amersfoort Racing team regain some "mental strength" after a difficult end to their F3 campaign that year.
It is the supreme challenge - both technical and for a driver's mindset - of Macau that earns it such respect - and means those within the F1 paddock sit up and pay attention to what happens.
Sure, luck has a part to play in the final outcome, so the final result is not the only thing that counts, but team bosses and grand prix drivers know that if you are having a good showing in Macau, then you can be good anywhere.
Former F1 racer Alex Wurz, who is chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association and has been overlooking sons Charlie and Oscar competing this weekend, said Macau offers benefits and opportunities like no other place.
"Macau is a magic racetrack," said Wurz, having raced there in 1994 and 1995.
"As a driver, when you come here, and that's almost regardless of if you do well or not, in one weekend you learn so much more about yourself, your car control, and how you are dealing with it between the walls, than half a season on normal racetracks.
"I personally think, and I can speak for most drivers, especially the ones who have done Macau, that if someone has done well here, even though there is a bit of luck involved, I take my hat off to them.
"It is such a difficult, challenging track that you need to execute the driving millimetre perfect, to a higher perfection level than I felt in Monaco in my F1 days, which is also millimetre-accurate.
"With the long track, the bumps, the old-school surfaces, where left and right corners are different cambers, it is like nothing else."
All of this is why a win in Macau holds such value - and keeps attracting the young drivers as they plot their way to F1.
For Freddie Slater, this year's European Formula Regional champion who starts Sunday's Macau GP from pole position after his dominant win in Saturday's qualification race, it is an event that holds great value.
"If you look at the history of who has won this race, it is incredible," he said. "Those people have gone on to do amazing things and, to be one of those on that list, it would be a dream come true.
"It's always been a race I've looked up to; even when I was younger, and watching the Macau Grand Prix was one of the greatest things to watch at the end of the year."
For Boya, who will start alongside Slater on the front row, what is on the line in the race goes beyond all he achieved this year.
"Being a Macau winner would be a dream," he told The Race. "I'm super proud about the job I have done this season, together with the team and everything.
"This has been an amazing year for me. There was joining Aston Martin, finishing in the top three in F3, and fighting for the championship. But if I win Macau, that would be the highlight."
It is the relevance and legend of Macau that explains why F1 drivers and team bosses will all be paying attention to how things play out this weekend - and that can be influential in shaping the winner's future.
As Wurz said: "I wouldn't say Macau is a well-kept secret, but it's not an over-promoted show. It is an absolute, straightforward motor race - the way we all love it.
"It's pure. It's been authentic for decades. It's not trying to be anything else other than Macau. And simply for that, you have to love it."
The Race is showing live coverage of this weekend's Macau Grand Prix and F4 races - head to our YouTube channel to catch all the action from the Guia circuit!
